This invention is generally directed to a combination connector which is connected to a backplane or bulkhead type structure and which is used to pass power and signal therethrough in which the power is isolated from the signal, or to pass two different types of transmission sets therethrough in which the first transmission set is isolated from the second transmission set.
Prior art connectors which connect to a backplane route signal and power through a common backplane. When dealing with relatively low speed signals or clean power feeds, any signal degradation resulting from passing both power and signal through a common backplane does not result in any real degradation of the signal quality as a result of interference that may be generated by the power signals being routed through the backplane. However, with today""s requirement to pass signals at ever increasing speeds and potentially contaminated or noisy power feeds, the interference being generated by passing both power and signal through a common backplane creates interferences that result in unacceptable degradation of the high speed signals. To overcome these problems in the past, designers have had to design complex circuit boards that would be capable of passing both power and high speed signals therethrough while at the same time preventing electrical interference so as to not cause unacceptable signal degradation.
Additionally, combinations with fiber optics was generally avoided due to the complexities encountered in routing fiber optic signals directly onto a backplane.
A combination connector which overcomes the problems presented in the prior art and which provides additional advantages over the prior art is provided. Such advantages will become clear upon a reading of the attached specification in combination with a study of the drawings.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a novel combination connector which is connected to a backplane or bulkhead and which is used to pass power and signal therethrough in which the power is isolated from the signal, or to pass two different types of signal sets therethrough in which the first signal set is isolated from the second signal set.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel combination connector which maintains signal integrity.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel combination connector which connects to a backplane in which the backplane used is less expensive than backplanes used with prior art connectors. It has been found that by moving alternate signal or power sets out of the backplane and into a bypass transmission media, in certain cases backplane costs can be reduced.
The combination connector of the present invention overcomes these problems noted in the prior art by isolating the power and high speed signals or multiple signal sets in a manner that offers both cost and performance benefits that cannot be achieved by traditional methods. This is because the circuit board that the combination connector of the present invention is mounted on is simplified because it only has to route power or signal sets, and not both power and signals. This is particularly significant in the instance of high speed signals and/or power, because interference from the power being routed through a circuit board that routes both power and high speed signals can result in a degradation of the signal quality of the high speed signals and/or the power can be contaminated by an overlay of aggressive high speed signals. Alternatively, more complex and expensive boards, i.e., boards requiring additional layers to provide for isolation between the transmissions received by the board, had to be devised to handle both power and high speed signals so as to not have an unacceptable degradation of the signal quality of the high speed signals.
Briefly, and in accordance with the foregoing, a connector capable of mating with a backplane is provided that only routes one of the transmission sets being passed through the connector directly to the backplane that it is connected to, for example, power. The other transmission set being passed through the connector, such as high speed signals, does not get routed to the same backplane as the connector is mounted on, but rather, is routed elsewhere, such as another circuit board or electronic device. In this case, the connector acts as a passive alignment tool to pass the selected transmission set through the connector and on to an alternate termination point.
In one embodiment of the combination connector of the present invention, the connector includes a housing, a first set of terminals provided within the housing, a second set of terminals provided within the housing and being electrically isolated from the first set of terminals. The first set of terminals is capable of mating with the backplane in a conventional manner. The second set of terminals may be connected to a cable extending from the housing so as to not pass the electrical signals being passed through the second set of terminals to the backplane on which the combination connector is mounted. One of the first set of terminals and the second set of terminals is used to pass power or signal through the housing to the backplane and the other of the first set of terminals and the second set of terminals used to pass signal through the housing without passing the signal to the backplane.